Book 14: The Finals!

Chapter 123.2: Dark Phoenix Transformation!

Ma Xiaotao couldn"t control her flames anymore, even if she wanted to.

The intense aura of light suppressed her from the outside, causing the dark flames on her body to be extinguished, whereas the Evil Phoenix Fire continued to ravage her body now that it had been combined with the power of darkness.

Ma Xiaotao"s body was on the brink of collapse.

The evil aura had become a part of darkness. The Judgement Sword"s effect on her was even greater compared than it would be to an ordinary soul master; her eyes that had originally flashed with flames had instantly turned pitch-black.

Was this the end…? Was she going to lose? Was Shrek Academy going to lose? Shrek"s glory was at stake here!

Ma Xiaotao became filled with fury. She was extremely indignant.

Jiang Nannan, Xu Sans.h.i.+, Bei Bei, and Ling Luochen had all been defeated. Even Dai Yueheng had lost his combat abilities due to fighting against their opponent"s poison-type soul master. They"d given their all in order to contribute to the eventual victory of Shrek; they"d even put their lives on the line for Shrek"s glory. But as their team leader, was Ma Xiaotao going to collapse just like this?

"Judgement. What bulls.h.i.+t judgement? I"m not convinced. I don"t believe that there"s anything that can judge me in this world!"

Ma Xiaotao"s desire to survive, coupled with her strong resentment, was revealed.

As the inheriting disciple of Shrek Academy"s dean, Ma Xiaotao was one of the best in terms of abilities, talent, and compet.i.tiveness among all the inner courtyard disciples. n.o.body her age could rival her; she was Shrek Academy"s future hope.

With her talent, she could"ve gone even further and become the first in Shrek Academy"s history to become a soul sage before she was 21. However, she"d regretfully been delayed because she had to repress the evil fire within her. Thus, this was never fulfilled.

All of this repression disappeared at this moment. Her martial soul began to show signs of changing due to the purification at this instant under the effect of her resilience.

The phoenix was the king of all birds. Even only the strongest and most powerful dragon could be mentioned in the same breath as a phoenix.

Among phoenixes, Fire Phoenixes had the purest bloodline. However, they weren"t the only ones with an extremely pure bloodline.

Ma Xiaotao had a part of the fire phoenix"s bloodline in her body. However, this bloodline wasn"t pure; she"d never be a true Fire Phoenix because of the evil aura that also existed in her body.

But the bloodline in her body suddenly changed. It became that of a dark phoenix—filled with desolation and violence. This phoenix"s sole purpose was to destroy and wreak havoc.

This was the evil side of the Fire Phoenix—the Dark Phoenix. It had appeared in the world for the first time as a martial soul.

A clear and crisp phoenix whistle resonated from Ma Xiaotao"s mouth. At the same time, a huge, golden light blade had just taken form on the Judgement Sword. It then slashed towards her.

The black flames were quickly extinguished as they met the golden light blade. The compet.i.tion was also bound to end when the sword slashed down; the Heavenfiend Douluo would definitely stop the sword from striking Ma Xiaotao.

But the black flames on Ma Xiaotao"s body that had quickly turned to haze began to gather and compress inside of her. Following that, a huge projection appeared behind her back.

A entirely black phoenix that was much smaller than the original Evil Phoenix appeared. However, a frightening aura was exuded from its pitch-black body, and its deep, purple eyes were filled with an aura of desolation and insanity.

"This isn"t good. Xiaotao has changed." Elder Xuan suddenly stood up. His eyes revealed a look of anxiety. Even with his experience, he couldn"t determine whether this change that Ma Xiaotao was experiencing was good or bad.

The pitch-black flames reformed into a pair of wings behind Ma Xiaotao"s back. Her figure suddenly flashed through the air as she dodged the Judgement Sword.

How was this possible? Ma Rulong eyes widened. He"d already expended his life power! If he didn"t finish Ma Xiaotao off quickly, he"d have to stop using the Judgement Sword. Otherwise, the backlash wouldn"t just cost him a year"s worth of his cultivation.

Ma Xiaotao lifted her head as she moved laterally, her once-bright red hair now black.

"Ah—!" Ma Xiaotao screamed. When she opened her eyes, a purplish light flashed, and a frightening aura emerged alongside her black flames.

A streak of crystallic yellow light instantly emerged and turned into a huge blade of light alongside her maniacal, tiger"s roar. It struck the side of the Judgement Sword heavily, and a loud boom resonated.

Ma Rulong"s Judgement Sword was stopped in place, while Ma Xiaotao held another huge blade in her hand.

This was what had been concealed within the ring that Dai Yueheng gave to her: It was the Tyrannical Tiger Soulblade, the Cla.s.s 8 offensive close-combat soul tool that they"d obtained from the top-ranked auction. This soulblade was four and a half feet long, and iwas at least one inch thick. It was curved like a cavalry saber, while its hilt was made of bone, and its pommel was extremely wide. Overall, it was shaped like a tiger"s head.

This soulblade wasn"t comparable to the Judgement Sword in terms of quality, and to unleash its full might, one needed to be a soul sage at the very least.

However, Ma Xiaotao had understood Dai Yueheng"s intention when she"d received the ring. She also believed that she"d be able to at least land a few strikes with this soulblade if she utilized her phoenix flames.

But she hadn"t expected to use this soulblade under such circ.u.mstances. Now that she turned into the Dark Phoenix, she could sense that everything was different. A boundless aura of brutality and violence raged from her heart, while a frightening aura was instantly unleashed. The Tyrannical Tiger Soulblade"s seven-ring restriction couldn"t even stop her from using it.

As she held the soulblade, black flames instantly entered it. Ma Xiaotao screamed once again, and the black phoenix behind her slowly drifted in front of her, then fused with the soulblade. As she held onto the soulblade"s hilt with both hands, her delicate figure made a half-turn in the air. She then swung the soulblade again.

Ma Rulong couldn"t resist her anymore this time. His cultivation was not only beneath hers, but he"d also used the Judgement Sword against his abilities. The soulblade strike that was previously unleashed against him nearly crippled his ability to wield the Judgement Sword further. When Ma Xiaotao struck again, the Judgement Sword flew out of his hand. The huge soulblade landed on his body with a tiger"s roar, and a black light flashed.

The Invincible Barrier lit up in time. However, something extremely shocking appeared: The Invincible Barrier was torn apart within the first second, even though it was supposed to last for three seconds. Ma Rulong"s body flew backwards and heavily struck the defensive barrier around the compet.i.tion stage.

Ma Xiaotao then swung the Tyrannical Tiger Soulblade towards Xiao Xiafeng.

Xiao Xiafeng continued to persistently attack Ma Xiaotao after she transformed. However, he was absolutely horrified when he discovered that almost all of his Cla.s.s 5 soul tools had lost their effect. The attacks unleashed by his soul tool fort were ablated by Ma Xiaotao"s black flames, with no traces left behind.

Ma Rulong and Xiao Xiafeng"s plan was that Xiao Xiafeng would try to restrain Ma Xiaotao, while Ma Rulong would unleash the Judgement Sword.

The Judgement Sword was an elite Cla.s.s 8 soul tool, close in might to a Cla.s.s 9 soul tool. It was also a close-combat soul tool. Even a soul sage or soul douluo would be elementally suppressed by the Judgement Sword. They"d once experimented before; a Rank 69 Soul Emperor couldn"t resist even a single strike from the Judgment Sword. This soul tool was thus their most powerful weapon in this tournament. Even though they hadn"t used it in the team round, they"d prepared it in the event that they needed to turn the tables.

But who could"ve known that this powerful soul tool would cause Ma Xiaotao to transform, and enable her to become even more powerful. She"d become nearly invincible.

Ma Xiaotao"s soul rings weren"t even visible amidst the black flames anymore. An enormous black blade light descended from the sky towards Xiao Xiafeng, but he couldn"t even dodge it, much less resist it.

The black flames swallowed every trace of light. Even the compet.i.tion stage seemed to have been divided in two.

A streak of starlight suddenly appeared in front of Xiao Xiafeng; the Heavenfiend Douluo seemed to have teleported over.

A star-shaped s.h.i.+eld with five corners then appeared in front of him and blocked the blade light.

"Boom—" Black flames scattered and instantly covered the entire region. When the black flames landed on the ground, the ground also started to combust and turned into a sea of fire. The regions that were on fire then began to melt and even began to collapse.

Ma Xiaotao"s flas.h.i.+ng, purple gaze was fixated on Xiao Xiafeng. As she held the blade with both her hands, spots of purplish radiance seemed to spread from her eyes. A frightening aura was released from her body, and she slashed out with her soulblade again amidst a terrifying roar.

"Stop, the match has ended." Huang Jinxu"s frantic voice sounded. Ma Xiaotao"s Tyrannical Tiger Soulblade stopped mid-strike and didn"t slash down.

The black flames around Ma Xiatao weakened a little, and she slowly lowered the huge soulblade. A purplish radiance flashed through her eyes, but she remained steadfast.

Huang Jinxu seemed a little pathetic even though he was a t.i.tled Douluo.

He quickly led Xiao Xiafeng—covered in a globe of starlight—to Ma Rulong. The s.h.i.+eld from earlier had already disappeared, and many holes had appeared in his long robe. Even a small segment of his hair seemed to have been charred away.